After the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing his new allies for the creation of a second front in western Europe. In … See more

The invasion planners determined a set of conditions involving the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that would be … See more

Alarmed by the raids on St Nazaire and Dieppe in 1942, Hitler had ordered the construction of fortifications all along the Atlantic coast, from Spain to Norway, to protect against an … See more

Operation Overlord was the name assigned to the establishment of a large-scale lodgement on the continent. The first phase, the … See more

Under the overall umbrella of Operation Bodyguard, the Allies conducted several subsidiary operations designed to mislead the Germans as to … See more

Germany had at its disposal fifty divisions in France and the Low Countries, with another eighteen stationed in Denmark and Norway. Fifteen divisions were in the process of formation in Germany. Combat losses throughout the war, particularly on the See more

Rommel believed that Germany's best chance was to stop the invasion at the shore. He requested that the mobile reserves, especially … See more